After Alexander II succeeded to the throne, he initiated reforms in the country, and in order to win the support of the Poles, his rule in Poland was moderated.

The tsarist government pardoned political prisoners in Poland and allowed the formation of a Polish medical academy and an organization of agricultural associations in Warsaw.

In 1863, Alexander II reinstated the Commission on Faith and Public Education, which had been abolished twenty years earlier. At the same time, the tsarist government allowed the convening of a council of state representatives. (Consultative in nature)

(Note: Alexander II's succession to the throne was delayed, and so was the reform period, and much of the time in the book has changed from history)

These concessions by the tsarist government satisfied the Polish bourgeoisie and aristocracy. The convening of the State Convention gives them the means to exert influence on domestic politics.

Happiness has always been contrasted, and the reforms of the tsarist government were much happier than their counterparts in Galicia compared to those in Austria a dozen years earlier.

You must know that in the European Revolution of 1848, most of the nobles and capitalists in Galicia were killed by the rebellious peasants because they were too active, and the remaining half were disposed of by the Vienna government because they were involved in the rebellion.

Those who survived were either cautious or die-hard Habsburg loyalists who stood firmly on the side of the emperor.

As we have learned, the expectations of the nobility and capitalists of Russian Poland have been lowered. In case the Shah and Huang government tore their faces, they believe that the consequences will definitely be more serious.

At least the Vienna government would have found a reasonable excuse to do it within the rules, and the tsarist government did not need to.

Franz was a master who bullied the weak and feared the hard, and most of the capitalists who were killed by himself were capitalists who had no foundation and were notorious.

For the aristocracy, it is usually forced to buy land, and only if the circumstances are serious will the title be deprived, and the matter of destroying people will never be done personally.

The compromise between the Tsarist government and the Poles aroused the attention of the governments in Berlin and Vienna, many fearing that this was a prelude to the expansion of the Russians in Europe.

The Vienna government is no more, Austria's strength is not what it used to be, and with the Russian-Austrian alliance, the chances of the Russians' big move against Austria are infinitely zero.

The Berlin government could not do it, and in the eyes of the anti-Russians, the Russian-Polish compromise was closely linked to the Tsarist government's plan to seize the territories of Prussian Poland.

It is uncertain when this plan was first developed. During the First Prussian-Danish War, whether intentionally or unintentionally, the tsarist government leaked plans to seize Prussian Poland.

Because of this plan, after Austria launched the war of unification, the Kingdom of Prussia was hesitant to act and missed the opportunity to annex North Germany.

At that time, the tsarist government deployed 200,000 troops on the border between the two countries, and Nicholas I sent special people to encourage Prussia to act, with the result that the more the tsarist government agitated Frederick William IV, the more he did not dare to move.

No way, the credibility of the woolly bear is too bad. There is also a Russian-Austrian alliance, and the Berlin government is worried that once the main force is dispatched, it will be attacked by a joint attack by Russia and Austria.

The Vienna government also had a plan for Russia and Austria to divide Prussia, although it was only a smoke bomb released by Franz, but the Berlin government did not dare to gamble.

Fighting on its own soil, both in the face of an Austrian attack and a Russian attack, the Kingdom of Prussia could hold out for a long time, waiting for the intervention of the European countries.

Cross-border warfare was different, the Kingdom of Prussia had not yet shown the invincible momentum of later generations, and the performance in the First Prussian-Danish War made the Berlin government unconfident.

Having learned of the compromise between the tsarist government and the Poles, the Berlin government immediately began public relations in the hope that the tsarist government would change its position on the Poles.

Prime Minister Frank said to people in private: "I sympathize with the situation of the Poles, but we also have to live, and there is no way but to let them die." ”

His attitude was also the position of the Prussian government, and it became the state policy of the Prussian government to do everything possible to sabotage the compromise between the tsarist government and the Poles.

In the mid-sixties, Polish society in the kingdom of the Conference was faced with two choices.

First, cooperation with the tsarist government could bring some relief to national oppression and some incomplete social reforms.

Second, in cooperation with the Russian revolutionary movement, everyone worked together to overthrow the rule of the tsarist government.

Obviously, although the second option can be financed by European countries, the success rate of rebellion is never high, and the possibility of becoming a martyr is far greater than that of becoming a hero, and it is not the choice of the propertied class.

The Polish independence movement, unable to gain the support of the aristocracy and capitalists, turned to co-opting the workers and peasants.

As early as late 1862, under the manipulation of the British, the Polish Independence Organization and the Russian Revolutionary Organization signed an agreement to jointly oppose the rule of the tsarist government.

The agreement provided that in the event of an uprising by the Polish Independence Organizations, the Russian Revolutionary Organization would support them and, at the right time, also in the country.

After the Tsarist government's compromise with Poland in 1863, the Kingdom of Prussia also joined the ranks of supporting Polish independence organizations, secretly helping Polish independence organizations train troops and allowing Prussian Poles to renounce their citizenship and join revolutionary organizations.

As for the French who were another supporter of the Polish Revolutionary Organization, the two sides had hooked up as early as 1848, and the internationalist French wanted to organize an expeditionary force to help Poland become independent.

Alexander II's reforms also caused concern in Britain and France. Under Franz's butterfly effect, the tsarist government won the war in the Near East and captured Constantinople, and the threat of the Russians rose more than one notch higher than in history.

The Russian Empire, which was still in the feudal era, was so powerful, if they had completed the capitalist social reforms, would they still have to?

The British feared that if Russia continued to be strong, it would threaten their world hegemony, especially the Indian region, which would be threatened by the Russians at any time.

The French saw the Russians as the biggest obstacle to European hegemony, and Austria next door, at least it seemed that no Russians could fight.

This is the experience of our ancestors, and no matter how strong the Habsburgs were, France was able to win in the end. With a sense of superiority cultivated over hundreds of years, Napoleon III decided to engage the Russians first.

Britain, France and Prussia all wanted to engage the Russians, and it was better to interrupt Alexander II's reforms and split the Russian Empire.

Everyone in Europe agrees except Russia that a divided and weak Russia is the best Russia.

With three supporters of Britain, France, and Prussia, the power of the Polish Independence Organization grew rapidly from 1863 onwards, and finally everyone felt that they were almost ready, and the Polish War of Independence broke out.

This time the Poles are quite confident, and the lineup standing behind them is definitely the most luxurious version in history.

Except for Britain, France, and Prussia, the vast majority of European countries sympathized with or supported Polish independence, and even the allies of the Russians sympathized with Poland.

This was demonstrated by the fact that the Polish Independence Organization had collected a million Aegis donations in Austria without being stopped by the Vienna government.

A behind-the-scenes supporter of the Polish Independence Organization, Franz was not interested in knowing. It's all the trouble of the Russians anyway, and he doesn't need to care.

The plans of the Junker nobles, he knew nothing about. This was not the incompetence of the intelligence organization, but the fact that it was not worth using the spies that had been so hard planted within the Prussian government.

Because of the relationship between the Russian-Austrian alliance, when the countries conspired, they invariably avoided Austria's eyes.

The eyeliner in the secret, which is hard to bury. Of course, it is impossible to pass on this kind of information, after all, every transmission of information is a risk.

Throughout, Franz regarded the Polish uprising as an ordinary independence movement.

The support of foreign powers was inevitable, and as long as an uprising was launched in the Russian Empire in this era, there would be no lack of selfless patronage from international friends.

Franz did not know, and Alexander II of St. Petersburg did not know. The rebellion that had just eased relations with the powerful factions in Poland and co-opted the capitalists and nobles naturally did not attract the attention of the tsarist government.

Almost every once in a while there would be a rebellion in the Polish region, to which the Russians had long been accustomed to it. If there has been no riot for three and a half years, then be careful, it means that the Poles are making a big move.

Under the influence of custom, the tsarist government simply ordered the local government to suppress the rebellion.

Alexander II's reforms had already achieved phased results, and after the abolition of serfdom, Russian industry and commerce achieved rapid development.

Don't get me wrong, this rapid development mainly refers to the substantial increase in industrial production capacity in terms of quantity. However, the industrial capacity has increased, but the quality has not changed significantly, and it is still in a disadvantageous position in the market competition.

Chinese people would rather use expensive imported goods than domestic goods. During this period, Russian industrial products had the common problem of being stupid and coarse, and even if they were not easy to use, the key was that they were not cheap.

Because of the domestic transportation relationship, the cost of raw material transportation in Russia remains high, which in turn leads to high production costs.

The trouble is that the industrial products are manufactured, but unfortunately they cannot be sold in the market. In particular, the machinery and equipment are completely unsalable.

Despite the fact that the tsarist government repeatedly raised the price of tariffs, it was still of no use. Some even ridiculed the industrial equipment produced in Russia as not competing with the handicraft industry.

This is an exaggeration, and no matter how efficient it is, it is higher than pure labor. Of course, with the low labor price in Russia and the high defective rate of machinery and equipment, it is really unknown which will be higher or lower in the end.

In Chekov's literary works, it is mentioned that the screws produced by Russian machine tools still need to be manually polished twice when they are used.

This may not be an exaggeration, in the Russo-Japanese War, some shells had errors in caliber, and soldiers needed to polish them before they could be loaded and fired normally.

The weapons in the army are so improvised, and civilian products are perfunctory, then it is even less worth mentioning. In short, 19th-century Russian goods are synonymous with shoddy production.

The domestic market is not selling, and the international market is even more unpopular. Against this background, the tsarist government decided to use the guns in its hands to find export markets for industrial and commercial products.

In the summer of 1864, Alexander II approved the War Office's plans for expansion in Central Asia, and the Polish uprising that had just broken out was ignored.